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	View Edit Domain: GreenBio Title: * Body: SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have zeroed in on the genes responsible for changing flower color, an area of research that began with Gregor Mendel's studies of the garden pea in the 1850's.<br /> <br /> In an article published recently in the <em>Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, </em>two researchers document their studies of the evolution of columbine flowers in North America. They studied red columbines pollinated by hummingbirds, and white or yellow columbines pollinated by hawkmoths. They believe that a color shift from red to white or yellow has happened five times in North America.<br /> <br /> "What is important in this research is that hawkmoths mostly visit –– and pollinate –– white or pale flowers," said senior author Scott A. Hodges, professor of ecology, evolution and marine biology at UCSB. "We have shown experimentally that hawkmoths prefer these paler colors."<br /> <br /> When a plant population shifts from being predominantly hummingbird-pollinated where flowers are red, to hawkmoth-pollinated, natural selection works to change the flower color to white or yellow, he explained.<br /> <br /> "Ultimately we want to know if evolution can be predictable," said Hodges. "In other words, we want to know if each time there is an evolutionary change in flower color, does it happen in the same way? Having identified all the genes that are intimately involved with making red and blue columbines now allows us to determine how these evolutionary transitions have occurred."<br /> <br /> In earlier research, Hodges showed that flowers evolve in a predictable fashion to match the mouthparts of pollinating birds and insects. Thus the pollinators of the yellow columbine flower, A. longissima, are predicted to have exceptionally long tongues to reach the nectar at the bottom.<br /> <br /> Graduate student Nathan J. Derieg is the second author. This research was entirely funded by the National Science Foundation. It is part of a large multi-university study funded by the NSF through UCSB.<br /> <br /> <strong>Contact: </strong><br /> Gail Gallessich<br /> gail.g@ia.ucsb.edu<br /> 805-893-7220<br /> University of California - Santa Barbara <br /> Captcha: Please Enter Code : * Time Zone: * Select the time zone Vocabularies Newsletter: Domain: Show summary in full view Input format Filtered HTML Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Lines and paragraphs break automatically. Full HTML Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Lines and paragraphs break automatically. news_filter Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. More information about formatting options			Related Articles Agriculture biotech increases at RTP Stem Rust-Resistant Wheat Landraces Identified Unseen harvest of gene war on billion-dollar pest Dow AgroSciences, BioDuro to Collaborate on Crop Protection ... Re-engineered plants may root out terrorism threats UK’s Two Main Political Parties Back GMOs And The US Agend... Making Poisonous Plants and Seeds Safe and Palatable: Canola... Scientists Refute Claim That Genetically Modified Corn Cause... Farmers battle a super-bug Farmers battle a super-bug Top GreenBio Articles

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